Everything and More
by ayrangel1221
Summary: Three years after Alyssa joins SHIELD, she comes home with a smile on her face. However, it is soon clear that she harbors a deep pain. Can her family and her new found love pull her back from the brink before she falls? Sequel to All I Can Do For You.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Welcome to my fourth fic, and my second for Avengers. It is a sequel to my story **_**All I Can Do For You **_**and is set a little over three years afterward. Right now, I am addressing a major mess up in the final chapter of AICDFY. The announcement at the end was not for Pepper's pregnancy. It was a little reveal that they had been holding back (on a bet between Pepper and Tony) that their baby was to be a boy. Sorry about that. (Btw, Pepper won the bet. She said Tony wouldn't be able to keep it a secret all the way to the birth and Tony thought he could, but he broke. The price was steep, but I think they're both happy.) Anywho, onto the first chapter! Please review!**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Avengers. I only own Alyssa and the kids. And the story. Otherwise, it's all yours Marvel**__**. **_

**Chapter One**

In the living room of the Tower, the Avengers all lounged about dozing or reading on the various couches and chairs while the winter wind whistled outside. Jane and Thor sat curled up together, she on his lap and his hands resting gently on her slightly rounded stomach. Both were smiling softly in the gentle light and it created a sweet, glowing picture.

Clint and Natasha, the Hawk and the Widow, shared the couch with the expecting couple, although Natasha was the only one actually on the couch. She drowsed with a red-headed baby girl in her lap and Clint leaning against her legs. Another crimson-haired baby, this one a boy, lay fast asleep in his arms as he dozed. The little girl cooed and gurgled, blowing bubbles and waving her arms up at the ceiling. Her eyes were the same sharp green as her mother's, though her twin brother's were the exact shade of silvery blue as their father's. Both assassins were relaxed and happy, something they hadn't thought possible just a few short years ago. They had a family of their own, and it had made all the difference.

Across the room, Pepper sat quietly on a second couch, Tony's head in her lap and a dark haired boy sleeping on his chest. Her fingers methodically brushed through her husband's thick, soft hair and a soft smile played across her face as she watched him snore quietly. Her small family was safe and happy and it was Christmas Eve. She was content.

Bruce and Cap sat in the two armchairs, reading _War and Peace _and _A Christmas Carol, _respectively. Everyone was waiting for a knock at the door, bringing with it a face that they hadn't seen in almost a year. A grandfather clock ticked mutedly beside the low burning fireplace. Pages turned every so often and Natasha shifted slightly. Clint cracked one eye open to check on his wife. Assured of her security, he reached up to touch her face and was rewarded by a slight smile and her hand gripping his comfortingly. He dozed off again.

It was five minutes past midnight and even the insomniac Bruce was drifting off when a gentle ding sounded by the elevator. Instantly, Natasha and Clint were on their feet, followed swiftly by Tony and Steve. Surprised at being swiftly set on the couch or in Jane or Pepper's arms, the two babies began to cry and the boy whimpered. Cap got his wits back first, walking forward as the elevator door opened. A petite, dark-haired girl was revealed, carrying a small bag and pulling a larger suitcase. Cap smiled.

"Alyssa, welcome home. Come on in, we've all been waiting up for you." Smiling softly, but also in a way that gave Steve a sense of sadness, she stepped in and everyone relaxed.

"Merry Christmas, everyone." She murmured, and then the family descended in a whirl of hugs and laughter. And since she had arrived, it was a very Merry Christmas.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Time Squiggles Happy 50th Dr. Who!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, at the insistent, silent tugging of young Eric Stark, everyone assembled in the living room for presents. The tired adults sat on the various couches and dozed while Alyssa sat on the floor and aided Eric in his unwrapping efforts.

From his parents, he received a snowsuit patterned to look like an Iron Man suit (the closest thing to an actual suit Pepper would allow), complete with boots and gloves with small 'repulsors' on them. He was more interested in the set of rainbow colored, different sized rubber balls that came in a series of gold-wrapped boxes from Thor and Jane. Halfheartedly, and only when the balls were hidden completely behind the couch, Eric opened a set of picture books from Bruce, two puzzles from the Bartons and then pulled the big red bow off of a small sled patterned after the Captain America shield from Steve.

Finally, at the bottom of the stack, slid under when the child wasn't watching, were a Japanese Avengers coloring book and a box of neatly sharpened crayons. He zeroed in on this last one and set to work coloring in one image of Cap on top of a building with his shield raised. As with many severely autistic children, he became entirely focused on this one task and therefore didn't notice when his mother came down from her perch by her husband and began hugging him and running her fingers through his thick, dark hair. A sad, loving look filled her eyes, but she smiled as a neat little picture came to life beneath his chubby hands. Alyssa retreated, taking Pepper's place beside Tony.

"How's he doing?" She asked softly, taking into note the heavy sigh that came from the millionaire.

"Better, since you saw him last year. He recognizes more people and responds to noise better. He's learned more sign language, and Bruce and Pepper are teaching him to read. They're the only ones who can get him to talk in fact." His voice grew slightly bitter, but he took a deep breath and continued. "He's a smart kid, reading at three years old. The other day, he said his first words to me. He said 'Daddy, I'm sleepy.' And I'm not ashamed to say I almost cried right there." A soft laugh rippled along the line of adults, startling the two babies and setting them to whimpering in the two assassins' arms. The small sounds put a smile on Alyssa's face.

"Twins. How's that working out for you guys?" She asked, a fluid laugh following when simultaneous sighs were their first answer.

"Don't get us wrong, we love them with everything we've got but sometimes…" Clint began.

"…we just wonder how hard Fate is laughing watching us trying to juggle the two little buggers." Natasha finished, affectionately stroking her little girl's face.

"What are their names again? I didn't catch them last night." Alyssa queried, leaning forward and resting her hands on her knees.

"Anya Chantelle and Alek Daniel. Their both your godchildren as well or didn't I mention that?" Clint replied, winking. Alyssa's jaw dropped, pale blue eyes widening.

"Me? Why…? Wha…? I mean…" Everyone laughed, the sound even making Eric tear his eyes from the half-completed picture.

"Why were you chosen? Because I wanted my little girl to have a loving, beautiful young lady to look up to." Natasha said firmly

"And I want my boy to know what kind of strong, honest woman he should try to find when it's his turn to fall in love." Clint added, a gentle smile translating clearly into his softly spoken words. Silvery tears collected in Alyssa's eyes.

"Steve is godfather of Anya and Phil is Alek's godfather." The archer went on, but he stopped when Natasha nudged him. Looking back at Alyssa's face, he saw that her tears weren't from happiness. In fact, although her face was as blank as stone (a bad sign in and of itself), her eyes were filled with pain, sorrow and anger and her hands were clenched.

"No." She choked out. Closing her eyes and standing with her head turned toward the floor so her short hair blocked her face from sight. "No, you've got it all wrong. I don't deserve this. I don't…" She paused, taking a shuddering breath and walking from the room with everyone's shocked eyes following her. The heard her door shut softly and slowly, everyone woke up. Tony glanced around, seeing the same surprised expression on everyone's face. Steve was the first to speak.

"What just happened?" No one knew how to answer him.

_**A/N: So, is anyone else worried and confused? I even know what's going on and I'm still freaking out! Please review, love you guys, I'll update ASAP. Have a great Thanksgiving!**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: STUPID FREAKING INTERNET! *wail, then deep breath* Sorry you all had to see that. If you can't tell, my internet connection suuuuucks. But enough about that. You guys came for a story and I'm going to give you one. I'd like to do a little bit of happy stuff before getting into the dark, angsty sadness. So (after the first part) feel free to curl up on the couch or in a comfy chair and snuggle into a warm blanket and dream about your own memories of Christmas Day. In fact, send me your Christmas wishes in your reviews. I love to hear about my lovely fans' dreams! Enjoy!**_

**Chapter Two**

Clint and Natasha glanced at each other, the latter raising one eyebrow in an obvious question. Clint sighed silently and shook his head slightly. The redhead gestured minutely in the direction the distraught girl had gone. Clint nodded and slipped his tiny daughter into her mother's lap, kissing the assassin lightly on the forehead. The rest of the team watched the silent conversation, shrugging inwardly. They were used to the two agents having whole conversations without them by now.

Hawkeye knocked softly on the door to Alyssa's room. There was no answer, although Clint was pretty sure she had heard it. She didn't have the sharpest ears in all of S.H.I.E.L.D for nothing. He let himself in and saw her kneeling on the floor, hand resting limply on the zipper for her suitcase, body trembling ever so slightly and breathing shuddery and shallow. He walked closer, not allowing his feet to make any sound on the carpet, tensed for the probable reaction to an unknown person stepping so close to a vulnerable Agent Banner. She didn't move.

"'Lyss?" He said softly, using the pet name only a few could use and reaching out to touch her shoulder. "'Lyssa? Are you…" The expected reaction came and Clint caught her small, hard fist only a few inches from his jaw. Her expression caught him completely off guard, though and he dropped her hand without thinking. In the instant before her mask fell back into place, the look of absolute agony and hatred that bled from her delicate features caused even the hardened assassin to cringe. Then her other fist connected squarely with his nose and he snapped out of it.

"Ouch!" He yelped, leaping backwards and pulling his hand up to cover his bleeding nose. Alyssa jumped slightly but held her hands up defensively as she slid to her feet without a wasted movement.

"Who is it?" She said steadily, glancing in the direction of his panting and advancing a few steps. "Clint?"

"Yup." He muttered nasally, cupping his hand beneath the dripping blood and reaching for the Kleenex on the counter behind him. Wiping up the scarlet, he gently pushed the now-hovering Alyssa away.

"I deserved that. I let my guard down. So, what's up?" He said it casually, watching her face for anything like the suffering he'd seen a moment ago. Instead, all he saw was concern, but she brightened and moved to the suitcase.

"Just getting out the rest of the gifts. It's probably a good thing you came. I don't know if I can get all these gifts to the right people without being able to read these labels Agent Hill wrote up for me." Clint laughed softly at the image of stern Maria Hill giggling over the secret presents and helping Alyssa address the labels in her neat, swooping handwriting. He was also laughing at his own oversight. He sometimes forgot that Alyssa was blind. She just acted so sure and could find her way so easily that it seemed as if she was just the same as any young S.H.I.E.L.D agent. Not that he thought her answer was the truth. There was obviously something more going on. That pain in her eyes was so deep; it reminded him of another young woman, hopeless eyes framed by red hair…

"Here, you take this stack. I'll take these ones because I know which ones they are. But all those square ones always confuse me." Alyssa said, plopping a heavy pile of gifts into Clint's arms. He took them with a grunt, wincing slightly at the pull in his newly healed shoulder (he had popped it out of his socket on his last mission), and dropping his Kleenex. Luckily the bleeding had stopped. He headed towards the door after Alyssa. That bright smile was back on her face, as if her outburst had never happened.

Dropping the first four small packages with his family, he caught the bright green glance of his wife. Her eyebrow rose, a slight bit of concern flashing across her gaze at the blood on his face. He shrugged slightly, shaking his head and heading towards the Captain and Bruce on the couch across the room. He dropped a heavy rectangular gift on Bruce's lap and a smaller, squarer one on Cap's. Across the room, a plain brown box and a tall skinny one went to Tony and Pepper and a small envelope for Thor and Jane. Settling into the space between the two bachelors, she cleared her throat for everyone's attention. Immediately, conversation ceased.

"All right, now this is how things are going to work. Jane and Thor first, then Tony and Pepper, then Bruce, then the Bartons, and finally, Cap. Got it?" Everyone laughed and nodded, Bruce murmuring agreement on behalf of everyone. And without further ado, Jane neatly slit the envelope and pulled out three papers. One announced, in curly letters, a reservation at a prestigious restaurant. The second and third were two tickets to the Broadway show, _The Lion King_. Jane's eyes widened and a whispered explanation was soon offered to Thor. Both thanked her, and she smiled.

"You get connections when you save actresses and restaurant owners from bad guys." She said, shrugging off the expensive prices. "Not to mention, the contract pay for this job is pretty high."

Tony and Pepper were astonished at the beautiful statuette and stately vase Alyssa had hand-sculpted for them.

"Did you make them yourself?" Pepper asked incredulously. Alyssa nodded, wincing.

"Are they really that bad?" she asked. Pepper and Tony both laughed.

"No, they're amazing. How did you get this parrot so perfect?" Tony said, turning the small, clay bird over in his hands. Alyssa smiled and shrugged.

"On a mission in Brazil, they had some rather tame parrots that loved modeling for me in exchange for some nuts." Everyone laughed at the image. They all knew that 'modeling' for Alyssa meant allowing her to run her hands all over the subject to gain a tactile image of it. Something about the image of Alyssa carefully touching and feeling along every square inch of a colorful parrot was very funny. Even Alyssa laughed at the memory.

"Well, thank you very much." Pepper said, setting the tall, slim vase on a table.

"I guess it's my turn." Bruce said, tearing the paper and setting aside. Flipping over the book that was underneath it, he revealed the title: _The Notes and Discoveries of Amadeus Cho: 2000-2010_. Bruce's mouth fell open. He looked at the book and then at Alyssa, then back at the book.

"H-how? There's only…"

"One copy? Not true. There are a total of three, now that Mr. Cho has taken his early discoveries, typed them up, saved the resulting document and printed one copy especially for you. And how did I get it? Let's say that the Italian Mafia is missing a few members, Cho felt obliged to pay me back. This was my price. Do you like it?" Bruce nodded and gulped, allowing Steve to whisper the news of his silent gratitude into Alyssa's ear. She moved over to sit on his lap, kissing his cheek gently and accepting his one-armed hug.

"Our turns." Clint said, tearing the paper on his tiny package and pulling out a black yin on a silver chain. At the same time, Natasha extracted a jade yang on a gold chain from her package. Their eyes widened as they opened their children's parcels to reveal smaller chains with the yin and yang for the babies.

"The necklaces lock together and so do the bracelets; real jade and ebony, real gold and silver, handcrafted in China." Alyssa murmured distantly. Silently, Clint slid Natasha's gift out of her hand, locking the two halves together while the redhead did the same to the bracelets. They clicked together neatly, a comforting sound.

"Thank you." The Russian assassin whispered. Clint nodded, then remembering she couldn't hear him, he said, "Yeah, thanks Squirt." The Barton's fastened the bracelets around their children's wrists, yin on Anya and yang on Alek. The larger chains they settled on their own necks, helping each other with the clasps. Alyssa seemed to sense their soft smiles, and it made her very happy.

Steve waited patiently for his turn, knee bouncing with pent-up energy. When the period of admiration had passed, he neatly unsealed the tape on one side and opened the plain brown paper. The paper fell away to reveal…

Everyone else only saw a small stack of leather-bound notebooks, but what the Captain saw made his eyes widen and mist over with tears. He lifted the three volumes, slid them apart, and reverently opened the covers to read the names written within. The first read '_Steven Rogers 1993' _in neat, old fashioned letters. A grin crooked one corner of the soldier's lips at the signature. He set it on his lap gently and lifted the second.

The writing in it was neat and trim, but with little flourishes that suggested grace. The name was '_Sarah Rogers'. _Steve's tears were flowing freely now and no one in the room made a sound. Even the children were still.

The final volume was tear-stained and the cover cracked with disuse as Cap opened it. The name, curling on the page like a fine silk thread, was '_Peggy Carter'._ Even the constant noise of the city seemed to pause and the air itself held it's breath as Steve whispered the name. Standing shakily and clutching the three notebooks to his chest as though they were more precious and delicate than snowflakes made of diamonds, he grabbed his jacket and left.

"I need some air." He muttered on his way out, the elevator doors shutting behind him with a _ding. _The world released its pent-up breath and all the Avengers looked at each other. Alyssa looked stunned and confused, unsure of what had happened, but guessing from the Captain's reaction.

"Well," Pepper said, breaking the silence and pretending not to be worried. "Anyone up for strawberry waffles?" Nobody answered.

_**A/N: Was it boring and monotonous and long? Did it end too abruptly? I'm sorry that after so long it ends up sucking. Forgive me? Let me know. **_


End file.
